The Violence of Empire: The Tragedy of the Congo-Ocean Railroad

The Violence of Empire: The Tragedy of the Congo-Ocean Railroad

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The gruesome history of the Congo-Ocean Railway, a forgotten chapter in the story of colonial Africa. In September 1927, a 30-year-old man was taken from his village in the French colony of Equatorial Africa. Malemale's experiences in the following months were not unlike tens of thousands of other Africans 'recruited' for work far to the south on a massive railroad project. Colonial officials were meant to guarantee Malemale's safety, providing him with food, clothing and shelter. In reality, recruiters took men like Malemale at gunpoint, chained him by the neck to other men, and drove them with whips for weeks to a camp in the regional capital of Bangui. THE VIOLENCE OF EMPIRE tells the troubling story of the Congo-Ocean, one of the deadliest construction projects in history. Drawing on a rich variety of sources, J. P. Daughton captures in vivid detail the experiences of the men, women, and children who worked on it. The result is an eye-opening account of an extraordinary episode of colonial violence that has long been overlooked. AUTHOR: J. P. Daughton has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and degrees from Amherst College and Cambridge University. He co-edited, with Owen White, the influential IN GOD'S EMPIRE: FRENCH MISSIONARIES AND THE MODERN WORLD (Oxford University Press, 2012). His first book, AN EMPIRE DIVIDED, was awarded the American Historical Association's George Louis Beer Prize for the best book in international history. 20 b/w illustrations

J. P. DAUGHTON is an award-winning historian of modern Europe and European colonialism and has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. He has provided media commentary for the Atlantic, Newsweek, Time and CNN. He lives in San Francisco.

Author: J. P. Daughton
Format: Hardback, 156mm x 234mm
Published: 2021, The History Press Ltd, United Kingdom
Genre: History: Specific Subjects

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Derek Hall
Well researched (to a fault)

A compelling story of ambition and determination over the realities of building a railway in equatorial Africa. A book that details the arrogance and casual neglect of the French administrators of the both the colony and the railway with horrific stories of peoples' lives being thrown away in the pursuit of a barely practical project.
Extremely well researched but the detail is sometimes repetitive and microscopically forensic to the extent one feels like saying "Enough, we get it".
Nonetheless well worth the read particularly given this is a little-known episode in little known part of Africa

Description

The gruesome history of the Congo-Ocean Railway, a forgotten chapter in the story of colonial Africa. In September 1927, a 30-year-old man was taken from his village in the French colony of Equatorial Africa. Malemale's experiences in the following months were not unlike tens of thousands of other Africans 'recruited' for work far to the south on a massive railroad project. Colonial officials were meant to guarantee Malemale's safety, providing him with food, clothing and shelter. In reality, recruiters took men like Malemale at gunpoint, chained him by the neck to other men, and drove them with whips for weeks to a camp in the regional capital of Bangui. THE VIOLENCE OF EMPIRE tells the troubling story of the Congo-Ocean, one of the deadliest construction projects in history. Drawing on a rich variety of sources, J. P. Daughton captures in vivid detail the experiences of the men, women, and children who worked on it. The result is an eye-opening account of an extraordinary episode of colonial violence that has long been overlooked. AUTHOR: J. P. Daughton has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and degrees from Amherst College and Cambridge University. He co-edited, with Owen White, the influential IN GOD'S EMPIRE: FRENCH MISSIONARIES AND THE MODERN WORLD (Oxford University Press, 2012). His first book, AN EMPIRE DIVIDED, was awarded the American Historical Association's George Louis Beer Prize for the best book in international history. 20 b/w illustrations

J. P. DAUGHTON is an award-winning historian of modern Europe and European colonialism and has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. He has provided media commentary for the Atlantic, Newsweek, Time and CNN. He lives in San Francisco.